"The Heichal HaNegina IS itself the Heichal HaTeshuva!" -- Divrei Yisrael, the first Modzitzer Rebbe. An appreciation of the Jewish melodies of Modzitz, Carlebach, Twerski and more...and Chassidic stories.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Moshe Rabbeinu's Song

Inaugurating the Altar"And Moshe and Aharon went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people; and the glory of the L-rd appeared before all the people. And there came forth fire from before the L-rd, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces." (Leviticus 9:23-24)Thanks to Machon HaMikdash for this picture

*Indeed, our entire Torah – Toras Moshe – is a Song, as the verse says [Devarim, 31:19], "V’ata kisvu lachem es haShira hazos, v’limda es Bnei Yisrael, sima b’fihem – And now, write this Song for yourselves, and teach it to the Jewish People, place it in their mouths [have them memorize it]."

In honor of Moshe Rabbeinu’s yahrzeit tonight and tomorrow, I’d like to present a few highlights about his connection to Song:

The Hallel [that we recite on Festivals, etc.] was [originally] recited by Moshe and the Jewish People when they stood at the [splitting of the] Sea. [Pesachim, 117a].

At the time of the Song of the Sea, Moshe was equal to all the Jewish People, and all the Jewish People were equal to Moshe… Moshe sang the [Song of the Sea] opposite all the Jewish People. [This is later explained:] Moshe would open the verse, the People would repeat it after him and complete it. Moshe would open, “I will sing to Hashem, for He is exalted,” and the People would continue, “the horse and the rider were cast into the Sea.” [Mechilta, on Shemos 15:1-2].

Finally, the Modzitzer Rebbe Shlita has a wonderful dvar Torah, from Parshas VaEs’chanan, about the prayers of Moshe that were sung. The sefer Pa’aneach Raza, brings a saying from the Baal Shem Tov that one should daven [pray] using song and melody. One can explain the secret of Moshe’s Song as follows: The Midrash Yalkut Shimoni [Shemos 241] asks, why does Moshe’s song begin with the word “Az” [then]?

Moshe said, “With ‘Az’ I challenged Hashem, “Ume’az basi el Paro – from the time I came to Pharaoh [to speak in Your Name, he made things worse for these People’ – Shemos, 5:23]. With the same language that I sinned [against You], will I now praise You.”

The Rebbe Shlita wants to know, what is the inner meaning of this fixing that took place at the Song of the Sea, to rectify the complaint against Hashem that Moshe had on his early entry to Pharaoh’s palace? He explains that Moshe’s mistake when he said, “from the time I came to Pharaoh,” was that he misunderstood Hashem’s intentions, and how He runs things. That is, the intensification of the subjugation to Egypt was a way of hastening the Redemption of the Jewish People. Moshe, however, did not realize this, so he complained, for he only saw the intensification of the subjugation, which seemed unending.

Moshe rectified this at the Song of the Sea. For this Song was one of Praise for the ultimate Redemption at the end of days, as the commentaries say that “Azyashir” [will sing, future tense] is indicative of the future Redemption. So even though the present Redemption [at the Sea] would be followed by further subjugation, since this Redemption contained the seeds of the future Redemption at the end of days, and Moshe was already singing -- thus rectified his prior error.